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Joe D to walk to Hall for prosthetics awareness

In other NFL news, Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, the former Buffalo Bills guard, plans to walk from suburban Buffalo to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, a trek of 213 miles, to raise awareness and money for children in need of prosthetics.

The 62-year-old DeLamielleure’s “Pound the Pavement for Prosthetics” walk will begin at Ralph Wilson Stadium on July 10. The plan is to walk about 20 miles per day en route to Canton. Former Bills teammates will be among those who log the first few miles with him. Joe Horrigan, Hall of Fame vice president and a former resident of Hamburg, will walk the final miles with DeLamielleure.

“When I played in the East-West Shrine Game in 1973, I was given a plaque that read: ‘Strong legs run so that weak legs may walk,’ ” DeLamielleure said. “That saying always stuck with me. I had no idea what people went through to get prosthetics, and how costly they were.” In recent months, DeLamielleure, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C. befriended 20-year-old Joey Funderburk, who was born without legs because of a birth defect. Funderburk’s mother, Chrystal, founded the non-profit charity, Grace’s Lamp, last year and enlisted the support of DeLamielleure. Proceeds from DeLamielleure’s walk will benefit Grace’s Lamp.